水木しげる

Shigeru Mizuki (1922–2015) created the visual language of modern yōkai. Born in Osaka and raised in Sakaiminato listening to ghost stories from the woman he called Nonnonba, he grew up drawing. During World War II he was drafted, lost his left arm in combat, and experienced horrors that shaped his pacifism. After the war, he worked as a kamishibai illustrator before becoming a manga artist at thirty-five. His breakthrough came with GeGeGe no Kitarō, which transformed yōkai from dusty folklore into living characters.